Song You Need: Valee, Harry Fraud, Saba, and MAVI are going on a road trip
thefader.comThe FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.
Valee’s career started with a sonic boom. The Chicago rapper crash landed into the public eye with “Shell” in 2016, quickly gaining looks for a slick, understated flow best exemplified on his early Z-Money collab “Two 16’s,” where he raps straight eighth notes for 16 bars with out breaking a sweat. (Younger rappers have been attempting to replicate his style ad infinitum ever since.) He caught the attention of his city’s since-disgraced native son, Kanye West, who signed him to his ill-fated label G.O.O.D.
Music, where Valee dropped one of the best projects of 2018. But, as for so many other talented artists, G.O.O.D. proved to be more of a stumbling block than a boon.
Read Next: Song You Need: 38 Spesh and Harry Fraud bring on heavy hitters to honor the dead Valee left the label in 2019 and started quietly self-releasing killer mixtapes that went largely unnoticed, and an excellent album (December 2022’s VOCABULAREE) that didn’t get the flowers it deserved.
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